


When Hard Choices Become Easy Choices

by legendaryroar



Series: Sheith Angst Week 2018 [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Captured, Established Relationship, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Sad Ending, Self-Sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-31
Packaged: 2019-07-04 20:49:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15849090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legendaryroar/pseuds/legendaryroar
Summary: When it comes down to it, one life lost is worth two lives saved, and Keith's not letting Lance or Pidge make that move.





	When Hard Choices Become Easy Choices

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sheith Angst Week Day 5 **Sacrifice** / ~~Almost~~.

Pain shoots up Keith’s thighs as his knees are slammed into the deck. Claws dig into the side of his neck, but he forces himself not to wince. An unfamiliar face sneers down at him, and he glares right back. This mission could not have gone more wrong, but at least it’s him. At least Pidge and Lance got away in the Green Lion.

At least Keith didn’t bring the Black Lion on this mission.

With his helmet still on, he can hear them. The Galra haven’t blocked his comm link yet. He wishes they would. It’s like hearing that moment on repeat. They didn’t have enough time to extract all the information. They were going to get caught, alarms were blaring, the Galra were closing in.

He remembers the moment he saw it Lance’s eyes. The determination to shift from sniper to distraction. To stop picking off far away enemies and move closer. Buy Pidge more time.

But anyone making that move would get caught. It was an inevitability, and that’s not Lance’s role.

In making that move himself, Keith only wishes he’d though to turn off the comms. They were screaming at him as he ran off, and they’re still screaming at him now. So loud it hurts his ears through the comms, like his capture hasn’t sunk in yet. Like he can actually turn back around and find an airlock to shoot himself out of for pickup.

The Galra sneering down at him is saying something, but Keith tunes it out the moment he starts hearing Pidge and Lance calm down and say they’ll come back for him.

“Do not come for me,” he snaps, harsh and venomous. “That is an order.”

The Galra tilts his head and smirks. They still don’t block his comm link. They don’t even remove his helmet. There’s a burst of chatter in Keith’s ear and he blocks it out. Just like he blocks out the sharp prick of those nails tightening at his throat.

The Galra leader is saying something about heading back to central command. Keith can feel the ship change speeds beneath his knees. The comms still work, but that won’t last much longer. He doesn’t understand why they didn’t turn them off until there’s a sudden sharp pain in his side, in the vulnerable spot between plates of armour.

Not expecting it, not seeing anyone near him move, he cries out before he can stop himself. There’s silence on the comms, and then increased chatter, and he gets it.

“Do not come for me,” he hisses again.

The Galra all loom over him, sickening grins twisting their features. The chatter on the comms starts to crackle and fade

“Do not come for me,” he says again, forcing down a cry of pain as claws tear into his other side. As the hand holding the back of his neck tightens and those claws prick his neck even sharper. He’s not giving them what they want.

“Keith? Keith, listen to me, you have to fight, you have to hold on, we’ll come for you.”

It’s Shiro, and Keith closes his eyes. Listens to the sound of his voice. Loses himself in it. He only just found him again They didn’t get enough time. It’s like all the forces in the universe conspire to keep them apart. To keep them from being together. Like their love just isn’t enough.

“I love you, Keith. Just hold on until we can get to you. You can survive this, just remember that we’re coming for you,” Shiro says, voice fading and crackling.

“No, don’t come for me,” Keith gasps. He didn’t do this just for them to all get caught in the end.

“They will come for you,” one of the Galra says. “But soon there won’t be anything left for them to save.”

Keith’s heart sinks as the comms last a few moments longer, all Shiro’s calm voice telling him it will be okay, before cutting out. They heard that, _Shiro_ heard that.  A deliberate attempt to get them to rush in without a plan. He can only hope they won’t be so stupid.

The smart move is to let him go.

Claws dig into his sides again, but he fixes the leader with a glare and doesn’t cry out again. Not yet. His heart starts to race but he tells himself everything is fine. There’s no sense panicking yet. Everything will turn to hell soon enough. He won’t break before they break his body.

He focuses on the good things. They didn’t get the Black Lion. Shiro is back and Keith has faith he will pilot the Black Lion again. They can still form Voltron without him. Pidge got the intel they needed, and she and Lance got out safely. That’s all that matters.

That’s what he’ll focus on.

Whatever they do to him will be worth it. Without his distraction, Pidge and Lance wouldn’t have made it out.

A druid appears from nowhere, and nausea bubbles in Keith’s stomach at the sick laughs of the Galra around him. He knows enough from what Shiro has told him in the darkness of their room to know what’s going to be done to him

It’s worth it, he tells himself. It has to be. One life for two. Lance and Pidge are safe. Shiro will move on, he’s stronger than Keith ever was that way. He won’t break down and ruin the team like Keith did. He’ll take over the Black Lion sooner. They’ll all move on.

It will all be worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Not entirely sure this one fits the prompt/week but I ran out of time to work on it =(
> 
> You can find me at [legendaryroar](http://legendaryroar.tumblr.com) on tumblr.


End file.
